


Scaredy-Cat

by amoosebouche



Category: Supernatural
Genre: (the Halloween attraction), Alternate Universe - College/University, Fluff, Halloween, Haunted Houses, I actually scared myself a little bit, M/M, Psychological Horror, but I am a giant baby, for normal people, it's pretty minor though
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-28
Updated: 2015-10-28
Packaged: 2018-04-28 14:46:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,518
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5094626
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amoosebouche/pseuds/amoosebouche
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cas might have a little bit of an 'overactive imagination,' so he doesn't really want to go to a haunted house and make a fool of himself. However, Dean won't stop badgering him about it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Scaredy-Cat

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote a thing! Not only did I WRITE a thing, I FINISHED a thing. Go, me!
> 
> Thank you [what_about_the_fish](http://archiveofourown.org/users/what_about_the_fish) for giving this a read-through! (Any remaining errors are my own, etc.)

Dean is camped in the doorway to his room, pouting and leaning against the doorframe. It looks like he’s going to ask, _again_ , so Cas cuts him off preemptively.

“For the last time, Dean, I’m _not interested_.” The exasperation he’s feeling is getting more and more evident in his voice, but apparently this doesn’t deter his best friend.

“Cas, c’mon man. It’s only a few days until Halloween and then they’ll all close down. Charlie won’t go with unless other people go, too, so you have to. What’s the big deal, anyway? Scared?” Dean needles him, waggling his fingers in a way that, Cas supposes, is meant to be spooky.

Cas sighs, putting down his textbook, and rubs at his eyes under his glasses. It looks like he won’t be getting any studying done tonight, because Dean refuses to leave. His options at this point are both unappealing: give in and suffer through a haunted house, or stand his ground and suffer relentless teasing from Dean. It’s not that he’s scared, exactly — well, that’s partly untrue. He just _startles easily_ , that’s all. The product of an overactive imagination, really. But it’s embarrassing; the last time Dean convinced him to watch a horror movie with him, he’d spent most of the movie curled up in the far corner of Dean’s couch, hiding behind his hands. It had taken _weeks_ for Dean to lay off laughing at him; he’d even gotten Charlie in on it, and usually she was the nice one. Heaving another long-suffering sigh, he swivels his chair toward the door.

Dean hadn’t been expecting that, and snaps his eyes up from wherever he’d been staring.

“If I go with you — _IF,_ Dean — what do I get in return?” Cas frowns, trying to appear stern.

Dean chokes out a laugh. “Cas, man, what do you think this is? I’m not gonna haggle with you over getting you out of your room and having fun with your friends. I will, however, mock you mercilessly if you _don’t_ go.”

“Wow, how generous, thank you Dean,” he replies in a flat tone. In resignation, he throws his mechanical pencil down on the desk and stands, stretching, more stiff than he originally thought he’d be. He _has_ been studying for this stupid test for hours, so it won’t hurt to take a little break at least, right?

“Fine,” he gripes, putting on his sweatshirt and grabbing his jacket from the hook near the door. “But you’re paying my admission. Call Charlie. Let’s get this over with, okay?”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever. You’re going to love it. Benny’s going to come too, by the way,” Dean adds with a wolfish grin.

“You ass! You didn’t even need me to come for Charlie’s sake, did you?”

“Nope. But I _wanted_ you to come.”

Cas huffs in mock anger. He’s not really upset; in fact, he might even be a little excited. Even if he does make a fool of himself by jumping and screaming like a little kid, it’ll still probably be worth it to spend time with Dean. And his other friends, of course.

++

They meet Charlie down by Dean’s car, and according to Dean they should only have to wait a few minutes for Benny. Cas leans against the passenger door and looks out over the quad, mind wandering, while Charlie and Dean chat quietly on the other side. 

It’s not even seven o’clock, but it’s dark out, the moon mostly hidden behind wispy clouds. The maple leaves fell early this year, and the skeletal branches of the trees lining the quad reach up toward the sky, knocking against each other in the wind. It had rained earlier in the day, and the air is full of the smell of wet, decaying leaves. 

Cas is reminded of a book his mom used to read this time of year when he was a kid: some kids were out walking in the country at night, and there was a spooky tree that they had to pass by. It was a night similar to this, he thinks — dark and wet and windy. That book always creeped him out, and remembering it now causes a chill to snake down his spine. Shaking it off, he tries to think of something else. 

Suddenly there’s Benny jogging toward them, waving and far too eager in Cas’s opinion, but he’s happy to be distracted from his thoughts.

++

Dean drives them to one of the industrial districts near the lake. There’s a number of abandoned factories and warehouses interspersed between residential areas. As he turns onto one road, Cas sees a long line of people on the sidewalk outside one of the buildings, stretching down the block. 

“Busy for a Tuesday,” he muses out loud. 

“Yeah, looks like everyone had the same idea,” Dean chuckles, carefully pulling the car into the parking garage next door.

They’re all rather subdued as they exit the garage and fall into line. The wind is harsher this close to the lake, and they all huddle into their jackets. Cas pulls his sweatshirt hood up, tucking his hands into his jacket pockets.  A large group of loud and burly guys who must go to the same school are in line ahead of them; Dean and Benny greet them and start talking about people he doesn’t know. Charlie is quiet, and he doesn’t know her _that_ well, but now that he’s looking at her more closely, he can see she’s much more withdrawn than he thinks is normal for her.

“Everything okay? Or did Dean force you into this, too?” he asks awkwardly, not sure how to start a conversation with her.

She shrugs, but then sighs. “Gilda and I broke up a week ago. I think this is Dean’s way of trying to cheer me up.”

“Oh! I’m sorry, that sucks.” The response feels entirely inadequate, but he only started hanging out with Charlie over the past few months, and didn’t even know she’d had a girlfriend to break up with. Before the silence gets too horrible, thankfully, Dean turns back to their group, throwing an arm around Charlie, squeezing her to his side tightly enough that she squeaks. He wraps his other arm around Cas, who suddenly feels a whole lot warmer and a maybe a little bit happier... Maybe. 

“Nothing like getting the shit scared out of you to distract you from your problems,” Dean grins, and she laughs. The line, which had been moving slowly for the past few minutes, picks up pace as a few larger groups of people are shuttled through. Signs proclaiming “ENTER AT YOUR OWN RISK!” are posted along the outer wall of the building, followed by warnings not to enter if you have certain medical conditions. Cas tries to read the warnings, but the line moves forward and Dean pushes at him impatiently. When it’s their turn, Benny is the first of their group to go in. Dean pays for himself and Cas, but then positions Cas in front of him with Charlie taking up the rear of their group. 

Inside, it’s very dark. Which is to be expected. Cas’s heart is suddenly thundering, also expected. Dim lights filter through hanging plastic and fabric, giving a sickly green cast to everything in the room. Benny is waiting for them, and Cas grabs at the back of his jacket.

“Sorry Benny, I just —”

“It’s okay, brother. Easier to stay together like this, anyway,” Benny interrupts him, sounding amused rather than annoyed.

Suddenly, there’s a hand grasping along his back, and although he’s about ninety percent certain it’s Dean, he still practically jumps out of his skin with a little yelp. Dean, of course, is delighted by this. 

“Already, Cas?” he chuckles, fisting his hand in the canvas of Cas’s jacket.

“Shut it,” he huffs, squaring his shoulders and slowly stepping forward as Benny starts moving through the room. It’s very quiet in here. Far too quiet; dripping water is the only sound in the room besides their shaky breathing and shuffling feet. The oppressive silence triggers something in him, and then blood is rushing through his ears. There’s suddenly a flash of light, illuminating a gurney in the center of the room, dark wet patches of blood dotting its surface. His throat tightens. This was a bad idea. This was a really, really, _really_ bad idea. Just as he catches sight of a human-shaped figure out of the corner of his eye, the light suddenly disappears and the room completely blacks out.

“Oof!” Heart pounding in terror and uncertainty, Cas runs into Benny, who has stopped short in the sudden darkness. Dean’s hand disappears from his back, and a prickle of unease takes up residence at the base of his neck. Benny starts moving forward slowly, and if Cas can hear _him_ breathing loudly, that’s not a good sign. 

Wait. 

That’s not Benny. That breathing is coming from _right next to him_. He darts forward, stepping on Benny’s heel, but before he even has a chance to freak the fuck out, an ear-splitting shriek erupts from behind him, as hands scrabble at his back, wrapping around his waist. Cas flails in panic, and his right hand connects with a leg that’s trying to wrap itself around him. A giggle that he suspects is Charlie sounds from further behind them, and he belatedly realizes that Dean is the one clinging to him. _Dean_ is the one who screamed.

“What the —” he starts, but Dean clamps a hand around his mouth.

“Cas, shh! That guy scared the shit out of me!” Dean laughs in his ear shakily, moving his hand to wrap his arm around Cas’s chest. “Don’t tell Benny, okay? He’ll never let me hear the end of it.”

“He’s already going to give you crap about the screaming,” Cas agrees, whispering back, “so I suppose I can keep quiet about you _climbing me like a tree._ ” He’s still terrified, but somehow there’s a warm sensation somewhere in the region of his chest that he can’t really explain and doesn’t want to examine too fully right now.

“Thanks, that’s very generous of you,” Dean gripes, echoing Cas’s words from earlier in the evening.

“Would you two shut up and keep moving?” Charlie calls from behind Dean, and Cas realizes that Benny’s walked on without them, so he hurries on, towing Dean (who still has one arm around his middle) forward until they stumble into Benny. Again.

The rest of the tour follows much the same pattern: Benny fearlessly leads them through room after room, Cas clutches Benny’s jacket, Dean keeps an arm wrapped around Cas constantly, and Charlie laughs inappropriately at everything. Every room that has a feature — that is, every room — sends Dean into a blind panic where he shrieks (loudly) and does some new embarrassing thing to Cas. The second room they go through (the one that has shelves with jars filled with things like teeth and fetuses), he somehow hikes Cas’s jacket and shirt up so that he’s touching Cas’s bare skin. Two rooms after that (the one that looks like an old asylum), he almost pulls Cas’s pants down. Cas has to stop and hike them back up before hurrying to catch up to Benny, whose heels he keeps stepping on every time this happens. All in all, it’s not _quite_ as bad as he thought it might be. This may or may not have anything to do with Dean being the jumpy one of the group.

Several rooms later, there’s a long hallway with filtered red lighting. Chains with large hooks are suspended from the ceiling, hanging low enough that they have to brush by them to move through the room. The chains clank eerily as they push them aside. Off in the far corner of the room, he can see something large swaying side to side from its hook. The light dims, and Benny slows, like he usually does when that happens. 

_Clank, clink._

The lights brighten — just a tiny amount. Just enough to see that whatever was hanging on the other side of the room isn’t there any more. But the room is empty, other than the four of them. 

The lights flicker off again.

Cas squeezes his eyes shut, and his heart jumps into his throat as he swallows thickly. He just _knows_ something awful is going to happen. Dean’s arm somehow manages to wrap even tighter around him. Benny increases his pace, and Cas is slightly relieved to realize that even he’s uneasy in this room.

He can hear a whisper of movement — fabric, maybe? — off to the side, and they all stop in trepidation. 

_Clank. Clink._

The red light flickers on again, and his eyes inadvertently pop open to see a line of horrifying shapes suspended from the hooks surrounding them. As if on cue, Dean’s terrified yell explodes into the room. This time, however, his scrabbling hands land in a really unfortunate part of Cas’s anatomy.

“Dean!” he hisses, embarrassment and maybe a thrumming tingle of pleasure overriding fear for the moment. He grabs Dean’s hand and pulls it off of his junk, moving it up to his waist again. However, this time he leaves his hand on Dean’s. Just to keep him from doing that again, of course. No other reason whatsoever. He’s suddenly jerked back into reality as Benny tows them through the rest of the long room at a near-run, barreling through the dark flap of plastic at the far end of the room.

They stumble out into a landing with normal lighting, all four of them heaving deep, shaky breaths. Cas leans against a wall, blinking owlishly in the bright light.

“Is — is that it? Is it finally fucking over?” he huffs, slowly sliding down the wall to collapse in a heap on the floor.

“Jeezus,” Dean wheezes from where he’s collapsed next to him. Their hands are still clasped together tightly, but Cas finds that he’s very okay with this turn of events. Dean smiles shakily at him. 

“Sorry about all the groping, man. Guess I’m jumpier than I thought I was.”

“You’re forgiven. So, uh—” Cas clears his throat nervously, unsure if he’s reading the situation correctly, but suddenly the prospect of being rejected is not as terrifying as it might otherwise be. “So what do I get in return for keeping quiet about the ‘Great Climbing Cas Like a Tree Incident’?” he jokes slyly, watching Dean out of the corner of his eye.

“Sorry, bitches, that ship has sailed.” Charlie’s standing above them, holding out her phone. The picture on the screen is kind of dark, but he can still easily tell that it’s of Dean clinging to him like a limpet. “Let’s get a move on. I’m starving.”

Dean smiles at him wryly as he stands, tugging Cas to his feet as he does. 

“How about some more groping?” Dean’s blushing faintly, which is adorable.

“I think I can live with that,” Cas grins back. It seems he can’t help smiling like an idiot, but he’s very, _very_ okay with this.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by those silly photos of people going through haunted houses where they're jumping all over each other. I have been to two haunted houses in my life, and I find them _extremely_ traumatic. Thus, my memory of these places is very hazy and this is based mostly on what little I remember from my terrible decision to go on the Chamber of Horrors at Madame Tussaud's in London _by myself_. Hannibal Lector got out of his cage and followed me through, breathing on my neck. IT WAS HORRIBLE.


End file.
